Carte de visite baseball cards, also known as CDV baseball cards, were a type of early photographic baseball card that were popular from the late 1860s through the early 1880s. Produced as small albumen print photographs mounted on small card stock similar to modern business cards, carte de visite baseball cards presented a novel new way to collect and display images of baseball players during the sport’s formative years.
The carte de visite format originated in France in the 1850s as a small and inexpensive photographic print that could be easily collected and shared. By the 1860s, the carte de visite had become immensely popular in the United States and was commonly used as a way to distribute portraits of famous individuals. Enterprising photographers realized there was money to be made by producing CDV portraits of popular baseball players of the day.
The earliest known carte de visite baseball cards date from around 1868 and featured stars like Al Reach, Ross Barnes, and George Wright. Production of CDV baseball cards increased in the early 1870s as the sport grew in popularity. Photographers would take individual or group photographs of professional ballplayers, then have the images printed as carte de visite prints which could be purchased by fans. Subjects would often autograph the fronts of their cards.
The photos on carte de visite baseball cards captured the players in formal studio poses, dressed in suits or uniforms. Backgrounds were often plain or featured props like bats or balls. Early cards tended to be simple headshots or bust portraits of individuals, but later examples sometimes included full-length or action shots of players in the field. Photographers produced and sold the cards directly to fans, sometimes arranging photo shoots when teams were in town.
While the earliest CDV baseball cards were produced sporadically by local photographers, the market was soon dominated by larger photographic firms in baseball hotbeds like Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Firms like Geyer’s Studio in Philadelphia and James P. Ball in Boston mass-produced portraits of star players and teams for nationwide distribution. By the mid-1870s, it was even possible to purchase complete sets of cards featuring entire professional rosters.
Card subjects included not only stars from the National Association and early National League, but also top amateur and college players. In addition to individuals, carte de visite baseball cards were produced featuring professional clubs, college teams, and amateur nines. Examples survive showing early teams like the 1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas, 1875 Harvard nine, and 1876 Philadelphia Athletics. Subjects were not limited to players—some CDV baseball cards depicted famous managers, umpires and club owners as well.
While most carte de visite baseball cards measured around 2.5×4 inches, larger cabinet card size images also existed. Production of CDV baseball cards peaked in the mid-1870s as the sport grew more popular nationwide. The introduction of low-cost mass-produced lithographed trade cards after 1876 spelled the beginning of the end for the carte de visite format. By the early 1880s, carte de visite baseball cards had been replaced by trade cards and other paper formats as the dominant baseball card type.
Today, well-preserved carte de visite baseball cards from the 1860s and 1870s are among the most valuable and desirable items to baseball collectors. Only a few hundred examples are known to exist today in collectible condition. High grade cards of stars like Barnes, Wright, Al Reach, and Lip Pike have sold at auction for well over $10,000. Despite their fragility and rarity, carte de visite cards represent a fascinating early chapter in the history of baseball cards and the sport’s growing popularity in the post-Civil War era. They provide a unique window into the faces and poses of players during baseball’s formative years.
Carte de visite baseball cards were the first type of baseball card produced starting in the late 1860s. Using the popular CDV photograph format of the time, they helped drive growing interest in the sport by distributing portraits of stars to fans. While they were replaced by hardier paper formats by the 1880s, surviving examples of CDV baseball cards remain extremely rare and prized pieces of baseball history today due to their association with the early years of professional ball.
